Configuring and Managing Zones

Zoning enables you to set up access control between storage devices or user groups. If you have administrator privileges in your fabric, you can create zones to increase network security and to prevent data loss or corruption. Zoning is enforced by examining the source-destination ID field.

Advanced zoning capabilities specified in the FC-GS-4 and FC-SW-3 standards are provided. You can use either the existing basic zoning capabilities or the advanced, standards-compliant zoning capabilities.

Information About Zoning

– Members in a zone can access each other; members in different zones cannot access each other.

– If zoning is not activated, all devices are members of the default zone.

– If zoning is activated, any device that is not in an active zone (a zone that is part of an active zone set) is a member of the default zone.

– Zones can vary in size.

– Devices can belong to more than one zone.

– A physical fabric can have a maximum of 16,000 members. This includes all VSANs in the fabric.

A zone set consists of one or more zones.

– A zone set can be activated or deactivated as a single entity across all switches in the fabric.

– Only one zone set can be activated at any time.

– A zone can be a member of more than one zone set.

– A zone switch can have a maximum of 500 zone sets.

Zoning can be administered from any switch in the fabric.

– When you activate a zone (from any switch), all switches in the fabric receive the active zone set. Additionally, full zone sets are distributed to all switches in the fabric, if this feature is enabled in the source switch.

– If a new switch is added to an existing fabric, zone sets are acquired by the new switch.

Zone changes can be configured non-disruptively. New zones and zone sets can be activated without interrupting traffic on unaffected ports or devices.

Zone membership criteria is based mainly on WWNs or FC IDs.

–Port world wide name (pWWN)—Specifies the pWWN of an N port attached to the switch as a member of the zone.

–Fabric pWWN—Specifies the WWN of the fabric port (switch port’s WWN). This membership is also referred to as port-based zoning.

– FC ID—Specifies the FC ID of an N port attached to the switch as a member of the zone.

– Interface and switch WWN (sWWN)—Specifies the interface of a switch identified by the sWWN. This membership is also referred to as interface-based zoning.

– Interface and domain ID—Specifies the interface of a switch identified by the domain ID.

– Domain ID and port number—Specifies the domain ID of an MDS domain and additionally specifies a port belonging to a non-Cisco switch.

Zone Implementation

All switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family automatically support the following basic zone features (no additional configuration is required):

Zones are contained in a VSAN.

Hard zoning cannot be disabled.

Name server queries are soft-zoned.

Only active zone sets are distributed.

Unzoned devices cannot access each other.

A zone or zone set with the same name can exist in each VSAN.

Each VSAN has a full database and an active database.

Active zone sets cannot be changed, without activating a full zone database.

Active zone sets are preserved across switch reboots.

Changes to the full database must be explicitly saved.

Zone reactivation (a zone set is active and you activate another zone set) does not disrupt existing traffic.

If required, you can additionally configure the following zone features:

Propagate full zone sets to all switches on a per VSAN basis.

Change the default policy for unzoned members.

Interoperate with other vendors by configuring a VSAN in the interop mode. You can also configure one VSAN in the interop mode and another VSAN in the basic mode in the same switch without disrupting each other.

Bring E ports out of isolation.

About the Edit Local Full Zone Database Tool

You can use the Edit Full Zone Database Tool to complete the following tasks:

You can display information by VSAN by using the pull-down menu without having to get out of the screen, selecting a VSAN, and re-entering.

You can use the Add to zone or alias button to move devices up or down by alias or by zone.

You can add zoning characteristics based on alias in different folders.

You can triple-click to rename zone sets, zones, or aliases in the tree.

The Edit Local Full Zone Database tool allows you to zone across multiple switches and all zoning features are available through the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box (see Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1 Edit Local Full Zone Database Dialog Box

1

You can display information by VSAN by using the drop-down menu without closing the dialog box, selecting a VSAN, and re-entering.

3

You can add zoning characteristics based on alias in different folders.

2

You can use the Add to zone button to move devices up or down by alias or by zone.

4

You can triple-click to rename zone sets, zones, or aliases in the tree.

About Zone Sets

Zones provide a method for specifying access control. Zone sets are a grouping of zones to enforce access control in the fabric.

Zone sets are configured with the names of the member zones and the VSAN (if the zone set is in a configured VSAN).

Zone Set Distribution —You can distribute full zone sets using one of two methods: one-time distribution or full zone set distribution.

Zone Set Duplication —You can make a copy of a zone set and then edit it without altering the original zone set. You can copy an active zone set from the bootflash: directory, volatile: directory, or slot0, to one of the following areas:

To the full zone set

To a remote location (using FTP, SCP, SFTP, or TFTP)

The active zone set is not part of the full zone set. You cannot make changes to an existing zone set and activate it, if the full zone set is lost or is not propagated.

About Zone Set Creation

In Figure 1-2, two separate sets are created, each with its own membership hierarchy and zone members.

Figure 1-2 Hierarchy of Zone Sets, Zones, and Zone Members

Either zone set A or zone set B can be activated (but not together).

Tip Zone sets are configured with the names of the member zones and the VSAN (if the zone set is in a configured VSAN).

About the Default Zone

Each member of a fabric (in effect a device attached to an Nx port) can belong to any zone. If a member is not part of any active zone, it is considered to be part of the default zone. Therefore, if no zone set is active in the fabric, all devices are considered to be in the default zone. Even though a member can belong to multiple zones, a member that is part of the default zone cannot be part of any other zone. The switch determines whether a port is a member of the default zone when the attached port comes up.

Note Unlike configured zones, default zone information is not distributed to the other switches in the fabric.

Traffic can either be permitted or denied among members of the default zone. This information is not distributed to all switches; it must be configured in each switch.

Note When the switch is initialized for the first time, no zones are configured and all members are considered to be part of the default zone. Members are not permitted to talk to each other.

Configure the default zone policy on each switch in the fabric. If you change the default zone policy on one switch in a fabric, be sure to change it on all the other switches in the fabric.

Note The default settings for default zone configurations can be changed.

The default zone members are explicitly listed when the default policy is configured as permit or when a zone set is active. When the default policy is configured as deny, the members of this zone are not explicitly enumerated when you view the active zone set.

Note The current default zoning policy in both the switches is deny. In the Cisco MDS 9222i Switch, the active zone set is coco_isola_zoneset. In the Cisco MDS 9513 Switch, there is no active zone set. However, because the default zoning policy is deny, the hidden active zone set is d__efault__cfg which causes zone merge to fail. The behavior is same between two Brocade switches.

You can change the default zone policy for any VSAN by choosing VSANxx > Default Zone from the DCNM-SAN menu tree and clicking the Policies tab. It is recommended that you establish connectivity among devices by assigning them to a nondefault zone.

About FC Alias Creation

You can assign an alias name and configure an alias member using the following values:

pWWN—The WWN of the N or NL port is in hex format (for example, 10:00:00:23:45:67:89:ab).

fWWN—The WWN of the fabric port name is in hex format (for example, 10:00:00:23:45:67:89:ab).

FC ID—The N port ID is in 0xhhhhhh format (for example, 0xce00d1).

Domain ID—The domain ID is an integer from 1 to 239. A mandatory port number of a non-Cisco switch is required to complete this membership configuration.

IPv4 address—The IPv4 address of an attached device is in 32 bits in dotted decimal format along with an optional subnet mask. If a mask is specified, any device within the subnet becomes a member of the specified zone.

Interface—Interface-based zoning is similar to port-based zoning because the switch interface is used to configure the zone. You can specify a switch interface as a zone member for both local and remote switches. To specify a remote switch, enter the remote switch WWN (sWWN) or the domain ID in the particular VSAN.

Tip The Cisco NX-OS software supports a maximum of 2048 aliases per VSAN.

Zone Enforcement

Zoning can be enforced in two ways: soft and hard. Each end device (N port or NL port) discovers other devices in the fabric by querying the name server. When a device logs in to the name server, the name server returns the list of other devices that can be accessed by the querying device. If an Nx port does not know about the FC IDs of other devices outside its zone, it cannot access those devices.

In soft zoning, zoning restrictions are applied only during interaction between the name server and the end device. If an end device somehow knows the FC ID of a device outside its zone, it can access that device.

Hard zoning is enforced by the hardware on each frame sent by an Nx port. As frames enter the switch, source-destination IDs are compared with permitted combinations to allow the frame at wirespeed. Hard zoning is applied to all forms of zoning.

Does not distribute the full zone set information along with the active zone set during activation, deactivation, or merge process.

Remembers to distribute the full zone set information along with the active zone set during activation, deactivation, and merge processes.

About Recovering from Link Isolation

When two switches in a fabric are merged using a TE or E port, these TE and E ports may become isolated when the active zone set databases are different between the two switches or fabrics. When a TE port or an E port become isolated, you can recover that port from its isolated state using one of three options:

Import the neighboring switch's active zone set database and replace the current active zone set (see Figure 1-3).

Export the current database to the neighboring switch.

Manually resolve the conflict by editing the full zone set, activating the corrected zone set, and then bringing up the link.

Figure 1-3 Importing and Exporting the Database

Zone Set Duplication

You can make a copy and then edit it without altering the existing active zone set. You can copy an active zone set from the bootflash: directory, volatile: directory, or slot0, to one of the following areas:

To the full zone set

To a remote location (using FTP, SCP, SFTP, or TFTP)

The active zone set is not part of the full zone set. You cannot make changes to an existing zone set and activate it, if the full zone set is lost or is not propagated.

Caution Copying an active zone set to a full zone set may overwrite a zone with the same name, if it already exists in the full zone set database.

About Backing Up and Restoring Zones

You can back up the zone configuration to a workstation using TFTP. This zone backup file can then be used to restore the zone configuration on a switch. Restoring the zone configuration overwrites any existing zone configuration on a switch.

About Zone-Based Traffic Priority

The zoning feature provides an additional segregation method to prioritize select zones in a fabric and set up access control between devices. Using this feature, you can configure the quality of service (QoS) priority as a zone attribute. You can assign the QoS traffic priority attribute to be high, medium, or low. By default, zones with no specified priority are implicitly assigned a low priority. Refer to the Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Family Quality of Service Configuration Guide for more information.

This feature allows SAN administrators to configure QoS using a familiar data flow identification paradigm. You can configure this attribute on a zone-wide basis rather than between zone members.

Caution If zone-based QoS is implemented in a switch, you cannot configure the interop mode in that VSAN.

About Broadcast Zoning

Note Broadcast zoning is not supported on the Cisco Fabric Switch for HP c-Class BladeSystem and the Cisco Fabric Switch for IBM BladeCenter.

You can configure broadcast frames in the basic zoning mode. By default, broadcast zoning is disabled and broadcast frames are sent to all Nx ports in the VSAN. When enabled, broadcast frames are only sent to Nx ports in the same zone, or zones, as the sender. Enable broadcast zoning when a host or storage device uses this feature.

Broadcast to all Nx ports that share a broadcast zone with the source of broadcast frames.

No

Yes

Yes

Broadcast to all Nx ports.

Yes

No

No

Broadcasting is disabled.

Tip If any NL port attached to an FL port shares a broadcast zone with the source of the broadcast frame, then the frames are broadcast to all devices in the loop.

Caution If broadcast zoning is enabled on a switch, you cannot configure the interop mode in that VSAN.

About LUN Zoning

Logical unit number (LUN) zoning is a feature specific to switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family.

Caution LUN zoning can only be implemented in Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches. If LUN zoning is implemented in a switch, you cannot configure the interop mode in that switch.

A storage device can have multiple LUNs behind it. If the device port is part of a zone, a member of the zone can access any LUN in the device. With LUN zoning, you can restrict access to specific LUNs associated with a device.

Note When LUN 0 is not included within a zone, control traffic to LUN 0 (for example, REPORT_LUNS, INQUIRY) is supported, but data traffic to LUN 0 (for example, READ, WRITE) is denied.

Host H1 can access LUN 2 in S1 and LUN 0 in S2. It cannot access any other LUNs in S1 or S2.

Host H2 can access LUNs 1 and 3 in S1 and only LUN 1 in S2. It cannot access any other LUNs in S1 or S2.

Note Unzoned LUNs automatically become members of the default zone.

shows a LUN-based zone example.

Figure 1-4 LUN Zoning Access

About Read-Only Zones

By default, an initiator has both read and write access to the target's media when they are members of the same Fibre Channel zone. The read-only zone feature allows members to have only read access to the media within a read-only Fibre Channel zone.

You can also configure LUN zones as read-only zones. Any zone can be identified as a read-only zone. By default all zones have read-write permission unless explicitly configured as a read-only zone.

About Enhanced Zoning

Table 1-3 lists the advantages of the enhanced zoning feature in all switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family.

Table 1-3 Advantages of Enhanced Zoning

Basic Zoning

Enhanced Zoning

Enhanced Zoning Advantages

Administrators can make simultaneous configuration changes. Upon activation, one administrator can overwrite another administrator’s changes.

Performs all configurations within a single configuration session. When you begin a session, the switch locks the entire fabric to implement the change.

One configuration session for the entire fabric to ensure consistency within the fabric.

If a zone is part of multiple zone sets, you create an instance of this zone in each zone set.

References to the zone are used by the zone sets as required once you define the zone.

Reduced payload size as the zone is referenced. The size is more pronounced with bigger databases.

The default zone policy is defined per switch. To ensure smooth fabric operation, all switches in the fabric must have the same default zone setting.

Enforces and exchanges the default zone setting throughout the fabric.

Fabric-wide policy enforcement reduces troubleshooting time.

To retrieve the results of the activation on a per switch basis, the managing switch provides a combined status about the activation. It does not identify the failure switch.

Retrieves the activation results and the nature of the problem from each remote switch.

Enhanced error reporting eases the troubleshooting process.

To distribute the zoning database, you must reactivate the same zone set. The reactivation may affect hardware changes for hard zoning on the local switch and on remote switches.

Implements changes to the zoning database and distributes it without reactivation.

Distribution of zone sets without activation avoids hardware changes for hard zoning in the switches.

The MDS-specific zone member types (IPv4 address, IPv6 address, symbolic node name, and other types) may be used by other non-Cisco switches. During a merge, the MDS-specific types can be misunderstood by the non-Cisco switches.

Provides a vendor ID along with a vendor-specific type value to uniquely identify a member type.

Unique vendor type.

The fWWN-based zone membership is only supported in Cisco interop mode.

Merging the Database

Restrict—If the two databases are not identical, the ISLs between the switches are isolated.

Allow—The two databases are merged using the merge rules specified in Table 1-4.

Table 1-4 Database Zone Merge Status

Local Database

Adjacent Database

Merge Status

Results of the Merge

The databases contain zone sets with the same name1 but different zones, aliases, and attributes groups.

Successful.

The union of the local and adjacent databases.

The databases contains a zone, zone alias, or zone attribute group object with same name 1 but different members.

Failed.

ISLs are isolated.

Empty.

Contains data.

Successful.

The adjacent database information populates the local database.

Contains data.

Empty.

Successful.

The local database information populates the adjacent database.

1.In the enhanced zoning mode, the active zone set does not have a name in interop mode 1. The zone set names are only present for full zone sets.

Caution Remove all non-pWWN-type zone entries on all MDS switches running Cisco SAN-OS prior to merging fabrics if there is a Cisco MDS 9020 switch running FabricWare in the adjacent fabric.

The merge process operates as follows:

1. The software compares the protocol versions. If the protocol versions differ, then the ISL is isolated.

2. If the protocol versions are the same, then the zone policies are compared. If the zone policies differ, then the ISL is isolated.

3.If the zone merge options are the same, then the comparison is implemented based on the merge control setting.

a. If the setting is restrict, the active zone set and the full zone set should be identical. Otherwise the link is isolated.

b. If the setting is allow, then the merge rules are used to perform the merge.

Smart Zoning

Smart zoning supports zoning among more devices by reducing the number of zoning entries that needs to be programmed by considering device type information without increasing the size of the zone set. Smart zoning enables you to select the end device type. You can select if the end device type should be a host or a target. Smart zoning can be enabled at zone level, zone set level, member, and at VSAN level.

Note If smart zoning is set at the VSAN level, then you cannot enable or disable smart zoning at zone set level or zone level.

Guidelines and Limitations

This section includes the guidelines and limitations for this feature:

Zone Member Configuration Guidelines

All members of a zone can communicate with each other. For a zone with N members, N *( N -1) access permissions need to be enabled. Avoid configuring large numbers of targets or large numbers of initiators in a single zone. This type of configuration wastes switch resources by provisioning and managing many communicating pairs (initiator-to-initiator or target-to-target) that will never actually communicate with each other. Configuring a single initiator with a single target is the most efficient approach to zoning.

The following guidelines must be considered when creating zone members:

Configuring only one initiator and one target for a zone provides the most efficient use of the switch resources.

Configuring the same initiator to multiple targets is accepted.

Configuring multiple initiators to multiple targets is not recommended.

Active and Full Zone Set Considerations

Before configuring a zone set, consider the following guidelines:

Each VSAN can have multiple zone sets but only one zone set can be active at any given time.

When you create a zone set, that zone set becomes a part of the full zone set.

When you activate a zone set, a copy of the zone set from the full zone set is used to enforce zoning, and is called the active zone set. An active zone set cannot be modified. A zone that is part of an active zone set is called an active zone.

The administrator can modify the full zone set even if a zone set with the same name is active. However, the modification will be enforced only upon reactivation.

When the activation is done, the active zone set is automatically stored in persistent configuration. This enables the switch to preserve the active zone set information across switch resets.

All other switches in the fabric receive the active zone set so they can enforce zoning in their respective switches.

Hard and soft zoning are implemented using the active zone set. Modifications take effect during zone set activation.

An FC ID or Nx port that is not part of the active zone set belongs to the default zone and the default zone information is not distributed to other switches.

Note If one zone set is active and you activate another zone set, the currently active zone set is automatically deactivated. You do not need to explicitly deactivate the currently active zone set before activating a new zone set.

Read-Only Zone Configuration Guidelines

If read-only zones are implemented, the switch prevents write access to user data within the zone.

If two members belong to a read-only zone and to a read-write zone, the read-only zone takes priority and write access is denied.

LUN zoning can only be implemented in Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches. If LUN zoning is implemented in a switch, you cannot configure interop mode in that switch.

Read-only volumes are not supported by some operating system and file system combinations (for example, Windows NT or Windows 2000 and NTFS file system). Volumes within read-only zones are not available to such hosts. However, if these hosts are already booted when the read-only zones are activated, then read-only volumes are available to those hosts.

The read-only zone feature behaves as designed if either the FAT16 or FAT32 file system is used with the previously mentioned Windows operating systems.

Using the Quick Config Wizard

As of Cisco SAN-OS Release 3.1(1) and NX-OS Release 4.1(2), you can use the Quick Config Wizard on the Cisco MDS 9124 Switch to add or remove zone members per VSAN. You can use the Quick Config Wizard to perform interface-based zoning and to assign zone members for multiple VSANs using Device Manager.

Caution If there are discrepancies and you click
OK, the affected VSANs in the zone databases are cleared. This might be disruptive if the switch is in use.

Figure 1-8 Quick Config Wizard

Step 3 Check the check box in the Ports Zoned To column for the port you want to add or remove from a zone. The check box for the matching port is similarly set. The selected port pair is added or removed from the zone, which creates a two-device zone.

The VSAN drop-down menu provides a filter that enables you to zone only those devices within a selected VSAN.

Step 4 Right-click any of the column names to show or hide a column.

Step 5 Click Next to verify the changes.

You see the Confirm Changes dialog box.

Step 6 If you want to see the CLI commands, right-click in the dialog box and click CLI Commands from the pop-up menu.

Step 7 Click Finish to save the configuration changes.

Configuring Zone Sets

This section describes how to configure zones and includes the following topics:

Activating a Zone Set

Changes to a zone set do not take effect in a full zone set until you activate it.

Detailed Steps

To activate an existing zone set, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3Click Activate to activate the zone set.

You see the pre-activation check dialog box.

Step 4 Click Yes to review the differences.

You see the Local vs. Active Differences dialog box.

Step 5 Click Close to close the dialog box.

You see the Save Configuration dialog box.

Step 6 Check the Save Running to Startup Configuration check box to save all changes to the startup configuration.

Step 7 Click Continue Activation to activate the zone set, or click Cancel to close the dialog box and discard any unsaved changes.

You see the Zone Log dialog box, which shows if the zone set activation was successful.

Deactivating a Zone Set

Detailed Steps

To deactivate an existing zone set, follow these steps:

Step 1 Right-click the zone set you want to deactivate, and then click Deactivate from the pop-up menu.

You see the Deactivate Zoneset dialog box.

Step 2 Enter deactivate in the text box, and then click OK.

You see the Input dialog box.

Step 3 Enter deactivate in the text box, and then click OK to deactivate the zone set.

Note To enable this option, you need to modify the server.properties file. Refer to the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide to know more about modifying server.properties file.

Displaying Zone Membership Information

Detailed Steps

To display zone membership information for members assigned to zones, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3Click Zones in the left pane. The right pane lists the members for each zone.

Note The default zone members are explicitly listed only when the default zone policy is configured as permit. When the default zone policy is configured as deny, the members of this zone are not shown.

Configuring the Default Zone Access Permission

Detailed Steps

To permit or deny traffic to members in the default zone, follow these steps:

Step 1 Expand a VSAN and then select Default Zone in the DCNM-SAN Logical Domains pane.

Step 2 Click the Policies tab in the Information pane.

You see the zone policies information in the Information pane.

The active zone set is shown in italic type. After you make changes to the active zone set and before you activate the changes, the zone set is shown in boldface italic type.

Step 3In the Default Zone Behaviour field, choose either permit or deny from the drop-down menu.

Creating FC Aliases

Detailed Steps

To create an FC alias, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3 Click Aliases in the lower left pane. The right pane lists the existing aliases.

Step 4 Click the Insert icon to create an alias.

You see the Create Alias dialog box.

Step 5 Set the Alias Name and the pWWN.

Step 6 Click OK to create the alias.

Adding Members to Aliases

Detailed Steps

To add a member to an alias, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3 Select the member(s) you want to add from the Fabric pane and click Add to Alias or click the alias where you want to add members and click the Insert icon.

Step 4 Click the browse button and select a port name or check the LUN check box and click the browse button to configure LUNs.

Step 5 Click Add to add the member to the alias.

Converting Zone Members to pWWN-based Members

You can convert zone and alias members from switch port or FC ID- based membership to pWWN-based membership. You can use this feature to convert to pWWN so that your zone configuration does not change if a card or switch is changed in your fabric.

Detailed Steps

To convert switch port and FC ID members to pWWN members, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3 Click the zone you want to convert.

Step 4 Choose Tools > Convert Switch Port/FCID members to By pWWN.

You see the conversion dialog box, which lists all members that will be converted.

Step 5 Verify the changes and click Continue Conversion.

Step 6 Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box to convert that member to pWWN-based membership.

Creating Zone Sets and Adding Member Zones

The pWWN of the virtual target does not appear in the zoning end devices database in DCNM-SAN. If you want to zone the virtual device with a pWWN, you must enter it in the Add Member to Zone dialog box when creating a zone. However, if the device alias is in enhanced mode, the virtual device names appear in the device alias database in the DCNM-SAN zoning window. In this case, users can choose to select either the device alias name or enter the pWWN in the Add Member to Zone dialog box.

Set the device alias mode to enhanced when using SDV (because the pWWN of a virtual device could change).

For example, SDV is enabled on a switch and a virtual device is defined. SDV assigns a pWWN for the virtual device, and it is zoned based on the pWWN in a zone. If you later disable SDV, this configuration is lost. If you reenable SDV and create the virtual device using the same name, there is no guarantee that it will get the same pWWN again. You will have to rezone the pWWN-based zone. However, if you perform zoning based on the device-alias name, there are no configuration changes required if or when the pWWN changes.

Note If one zone set is active and you activate another zone set, the currently active zone set is automatically deactivated.

Tip You do not have to copy the running configuration to the startup configuration to store the active zone set. However, you need to copy the running configuration to the startup configuration to explicitly store full zone sets. It is not available across switch resets.

Caution If you deactivate the active zone set in a VSAN that is also configured for IVR, the active IVR zone set (IVZS) is also deactivated and all IVR traffic to and from the switch is stopped. This deactivation can disrupt traffic in more than one VSAN. Before deactivating the active zone set, check the active zone analysis for the VSAN. To reactivate the IVZS, you must reactivate the regular zone set (refer to the
Cisco MDS 9000 Family NX-OS Inter-VSAN Routing Configuration Guide).
Caution If the currently active zone set contains IVR zones, activating the zone set from a switch where IVR is not enabled disrupts IVR traffic to and from that VSAN. We strongly recommend that you always activate the zone set from an IVR-enabled switch to avoid disrupting IVR traffic.

Filtering Zones, Zone Sets, and Device Aliases Based on Name

Detailed Steps

To filter the zones, zone sets, or device aliases, follow these steps:

Enabling Full Zone Set Distribution

All switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family distribute active zone sets when new E port links come up or when a new zone set is activated in a VSAN. The zone set distribution takes effect while sending merge requests to the adjacent switch or while activating a zone set.

Detailed Steps

To enable full zone set and active zone set distribution to all switches on a per-VSAN basis, follow these steps:

Step 1 Expand a VSAN and select a zone set in the Logical Domains pane.

You see the zone set configuration in the Information pane. The Active Zones tab is the default.

Step 2 Click the Policies tab.

You see the configured policies for the zone.

Step 3 In the Propagation column, choose fullZoneset from the drop-down menu.

Step 4 Click Apply Changes to propagate the full zone set.

Enabling a One-Time Distribution

Detailed Steps

You can perform a one-time distribution of inactive, unmodified zone sets throughout the fabric. To propagate a one-time distribution of the full zone set, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box.

Step 2 Click the appropriate zone from the list in the left pane.

Step 3 Click Distribute to distribute the full zone set across the fabric.

This procedure only distributes the full zone set information; it does not save the information to the startup configuration. You must explicitly save the running configuration to the startup configuration to save the full zone set information to the startup configuration.

Note The one-time distribution of the full zone set is supported in interop 2 and interop 3 modes, not in interop 1 mode.

Importing and Exporting Zone Sets

Detailed Steps

To import or export the zone set information from or to an adjacent switch, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Tools > Merge Fail Recovery.

You see the Zone Merge Failure Recovery dialog box.

Step 2Click the Import Active Zoneset or the Export Active Zoneset radio button.

Step 3Select the switch from which to import or export the zone set information from the drop-down list.

Step 4Select the VSAN from which to import or export the zone set information from the drop-down list.

Step 5Select the interface to use for the import process.

Step 6Click OK to import or export the active zone set.

Note Issue the import and export from a single switch. Importing from one switch and exporting from another switch can lead to isolation again.

Copying Zone Sets

On the Cisco MDS Family switches, you cannot edit an active zone set. However, you can copy an active zone set to create a new zone set that you can edit.

Detailed Steps

To make a copy of a zone set, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Copy Full Zone Database.

You see the Copy Full Zone Database dialog box.

Step 2Click the Active or the Full radio button, depending on which type of database you want to copy.

Step 3Select the source VSAN from the drop-down list.

Step 4If you selected Copy Full, select the source switch and the destination VSAN from those drop-down lists.

Step 5Select the destination switch from the drop-down list.

Step 6Click Copy to copy the database.

Caution If the Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR) feature is enabled and if IVR zones exist in the active zone set, then a zone set copy operation copies all the IVR zones to the full zone database. To prevent copying to the IVR zones, you must explicitly remove them from the full zone set database before performing the copy operation. Refer to the
Cisco MDS 9000 Family NX-OS Inter-VSAN Routing Configuration Guide for more information on the IVR feature.

Backing Up Zones

Detailed Steps

To back up the full zone configuration, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3 Choose File > Backup > This VSAN Zones to back up the existing zone configuration to a workstation using TFTP, SFTP, SCP, or FTP.

You see the Backup Zone Configuration dialog box.

You can edit this configuration before backing up the data to a remote server.

Step 4 Provide the following Remote Options information to back up data onto a remote server:

a. Using —Select the protocol.

b. Server IP Address—Enter the IP adress of the server.

c. UserName—Enter the name of the user.

d. Password—Enter the password for the user.

e. File Name(Root Path)—Enter the path and the filename.

Step 5 Click Backup or click Cancel to close the dialog box without backing up.

Restoring Zones

Detailed Steps

To restore the full zone configuration, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 4 Provide the following Remote Options information to restore data from a remote server:

a. Using—Select the protocol.

b. Server IP Address—Enter the IP address of the server.

c. UserName—Enter the name of the user.

d. Password—Enter the password for the user.

e. File Name—Enter the path and the filename.

Step 5 Click Restore to continue or click Cancel to close the dialog box without restoring.

Note Click View Config to see information on how the zone configuration file from a remote server will be restored. When you click Yes in this dialog box, you are provided with the CLI commands that are executed. To close the dialog box, click Close.

Note Backup and Restore options are available to switches that run Cisco NX-OS Release 4.1(3) or later.

Renaming Zones, Zone Sets, and Aliases

Detailed Steps

To rename a zone, zone set, or alias, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Clearing the Zone Server Database

Note Clearing a zone set only erases the full zone database, not the active zone database.

Note After clearing the zone server database, you must explicitly copy the running configuration to the startup configuration to ensure that the running configuration is used when the switch reboots.

Configuring Zone-Based Traffic Priority

Detailed Steps

To configure the zone priority, follow these steps:

Step 1 Expand a VSAN and then select a zone set in the Logical Domains pane.

Step 2 Click the Policies tab in the Information pane.

You see the Zone policy information in the Information pane.

Step 3 Use the check boxes and drop-down menus to configure QoS on the default zone.

Step 4 Click Apply Changes to save the changes.

Configuring Default Zone QoS Priority Attributes

QoS priority attribute configuration changes take effect when you activate the zone set of the associated zone.

Note If a member is part of two zones with two different QoS priority attributes, the higher QoS value is implemented. This situation does not arise in the VSAN-based QoS as the first matching entry is implemented.

Detailed Steps

To configure the QoS priority attributes for a default zone, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Assigning LUNs to Storage Subsystems

LUN masking and mapping restricts server access to specific LUNs. If LUN masking is enabled on a storage subsystem and if you want to perform additional LUN zoning in a Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch, obtain the LUN number for each host bus adapter (HBA) from the storage subsystem and then configure the LUN-based zone procedure provided in the “Configuring a LUN-Based Zone” section.

Note Refer to the relevant user manuals to obtain the LUN number for each HBA.

Caution If you make any errors when assigning LUNs, you might lose data.

Configuring Read-Only Zones

Detailed Steps

To configure read-only zones, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

You see the Select VSAN dialog box.

Step 2 Select a VSAN and click OK.

You see the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box for the selected VSAN.

Step 3 Click Zones in the left pane and click the Insert icon to add a zone.

Changing from Basic Zoning to Enhanced Zoning

Detailed Steps

To change to the enhanced zoning mode from the basic mode, follow these steps:

Step 1 Verify that all switches in the fabric are capable of working in the enhanced mode.

If one or more switches are not capable of working in enhanced mode, then your request to move to enhanced mode is rejected.

Step 2 Set the operation mode to enhanced zoning mode.

You will be able to automatically start a session, acquire a fabric wide lock, distribute the active and full zoning database using the enhanced zoning data structures, distribute zoning policies, and then release the lock. All switches in the fabric then move to the enhanced zoning mode.

Tip After moving from basic zoning to enhanced zoning, we recommend that you save the running configuration.

Changing from Enhanced Zoning to Basic Zoning

The standards do not allow you to move back to basic zoning. However, Cisco MDS switches allow this move to enable you to downgrade and upgrade to other Cisco SAN-OS or Cisco NX-OS releases.

Detailed Steps

To change to the basic zoning mode from the enhanced mode, follow these steps:

Step 1 Verify that the active and full zone set do not contain any configuration that is specific to the enhanced zoning mode.

If such configurations exist, delete them before proceeding with this procedure. If you do not delete the existing configuration, the Cisco NX-OS software automatically removes them.

Step 2 Set the operation mode to basic zoning mode.

You will be able to automatically start a session, acquire a fabric wide lock, distribute the zoning information using the basic zoning data structure, apply the configuration changes, and release the lock from all switches in the fabric. All switches in the fabric then move to basic zoning mode.

Note If a switch running Cisco SAN-OS Release 2.0(1b) and NX-OS 4(1b) or later, with enhanced zoning enabled is downgraded to Cisco SAN-OS Release 1.3(4), or earlier, the switch comes up in basic zoning mode and cannot join the fabric because all the other switches in the fabric are still in enhanced zoning mode.

Enabling Enhanced Zoning

By default, the enhanced zoning feature is disabled in all switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family.

Detailed Steps

To enable enhanced zoning in a VSAN, follow these steps:

Step 1 Expand a VSAN and then select a zone set in the Logical Domains pane.

You see the zone set configuration in the Information pane.

Step 2 Click the Enhanced tab.

You see the current enhanced zoning configuration.

Step 3 From the Action drop-down menu, choose enhanced to enable enhanced zoning in this VSAN.

Step 4 Click Apply Changes to save these changes.

Modifying the Zone Database

Modifications to the zone database is done within a session. A session is created at the time of the first successful configuration command. On creation of a session, a copy of the zone database is created. Any changes done within the session are performed on this copy of the zoning database. These changes in the copy zoning database are not applied to the effective zoning database until you commit the changes. Once you apply the changes, the session is closed.

If the fabric is locked by another user and for some reason the lock is not cleared, you can force the operation and close the session. You must have permission (role) to clear the lock in this switch and perform the operation on the switch from where the session was originally created.

Creating Attribute Groups

In enhanced mode, you can directly configure attributes using attribute groups.

Broadcast to all Nx ports that share a broadcast zone with the source of broadcast frames.

No

Yes

Yes

Broadcast to all Nx ports.

Yes

No

No

Broadcasting is disabled.

Tip If any NL port attached to an FL port shares a broadcast zone with the source of the broadcast frame, then the frames are broadcast to all devices in the loop.

Compacting the Zone Database for Downgrading

Prior to Cisco SAN-OS Release 3.0(1), only 2000 zones are supported per VSAN. If you add more than 2000 zones to a VSAN, a configuration check is registered to indicate that downgrading to a previous release could cause you to lose the zones over the limit. To avoid the configuration check, delete the excess zones and compact the zone database for the VSAN. If there are 2000 zones or fewer after deleting the excess zones, the compacting process assigns new internal zone IDs and the configuration can be supported by Cisco SAN-OS Release 2.x or earlier. Perform this procedure for every VSAN on the switch with more than 2000 zones.

Note A merge failure occurs when a switch supports more than 2000 zones per VSAN but its neighbor does not. Also, zone set activation can fail if the switch has more than 2000 zones per VSAN and not all switches in the fabric support more than 2000 zones per VSAN.

To compact the zone database for downgrading, refer to the Cisco MDS 9000 Family NX-OS Fabric Configuration Guide.

Verifying Zone Configuration

Displaying Zone Information

Step 1 Expand a VSAN and select a zone set in the Logical Domains pane.

You see the zone configuration in the Information pane.

Step 2 Click the Read Only Violations, Statistics tab or the LUN Zoning Statistics tab to view statistics for the selected zone.

Configuration Examples for Zoning

Figure 1-9 illustrates a zone set with two zones, zone 1 and zone 2, in a fabric. Zone 1 provides access from all three hosts (H1, H2, H3) to the data residing on storage systems S1 and S2. Zone 2 restricts the data on S3 to access only by H3. Note that H3 resides in both zones.

Figure 1-9 Fabric with Two Zones

You can partition this fabric into zones using other methods. Figure 1-10 illustrates another possibility. Assume that there is a need to isolate storage system S2 for the purpose of testing new software. To achieve this, zone 3 is configured, which contains only host H2 and storage S2. You can restrict access to just H2 and S2 in zone 3, and to H1 and S1 in zone 1.

Figure 1-10 Fabric with Three Zones

Field Descriptions for Zones

The following are the field descriptions for zoning.

Zone Set Active Zones

Field

Description

Zone

Zone name.

Type

Zone member type.

Device Type

Specifies if the end device type is host, storage, or both.

Switch Interface

Switch interface to which the zone member is connected to.

Name

Zone member name.

WWN

Zone member WWN.

FcId

Zone member FC ID.

LUNs

Zone member LUN.

Status

Not in Fabric: If zone member is not in the fabric.

Not in VSAN: If zone member is not present in the VSAN.

n/a: Cannot determine status.

Empty: Member is present in fabric and correct VSAN and can communicate with other members of the zone.

Zone Set Unzoned

Field

Description

Name

Zone member name.

WWN

Zone member WWN.

FcId

Zone member FC ID.

Zone Set Status

Field

Description

Status

Indicates the outcome of the most recent activation or deactivation.

Activation Time

When this entry was most recently activated. If this entry has been activated prior to the last reinitialization of the local network management system, then this value will be N/A.

FailureCause

The reason for the failure of the zone set activation or deactivation.

FailedSwitch

The domain ID of the device in the fabric that has caused the Change Protocol to fail.

Active == Local?

Indicates whether the enforced database is the same as the local database on this VSAN. If true, then they are the same. If false, then they are not the same.

Active Zoneset

The name of the enforced IV zone set.

Hard Zoning

Indicates whether the hard zoning is enabled on this VSAN. Hard zoning is a mechanism by which zoning is enforced in hardware. If true, then hard zoning is enabled on this VSAN. If false, then hard zoning is not enabled on this VSAN.

Zone Set Policies

Field

Description

Default Zone Behavior

Controls the behavior of the default zone on this VSAN. If it is set to permit, then the members of the default zone on this VSAN can communicate with each other. If it is set to deny, then the members of the default zone on this VSAN cannot communicate with each other.

Default Zone ReadOnly

Indicates whether SCSI read operations are allowed on members of the default zone which are SCSI targets, on this VSAN. If true, then only SCSI read operations are permitted. So, this default zone becomes a read-only default zone on this VSAN. If false, then both SCSI read and write operations are permitted.

Default Zone QoS

Specifies whether the QoS attribute for the default zone on this VSAN is enabled. If true, then QoS attribute for the default zone on this VSAN is enabled. If false, then the QoS attribute for the default zone on this VSAN is disabled.

Default Zone QoS Priority

Specifies the QoS priority value.

Default Zone Broadcast

Specifies if broadcast zoning is enabled on this default zone on this VSAN. If true, then it is enabled. If false, then it is disabled.

Smart Zoning

Specifies if the smart zoning feature is enabled or disabled at the VSAN level

Propagation

Controls the way zoneset information is propagated during Merge/Change protocols on this VSAN

Read From

Specifies whether the management station wishes to read from the effective database or from the copy database.

Zone Set Active Zones Attributes

Field

Description

Name

Zone name.

Read Only

Indicates if only SCSI read operations are allowed on members of the default zone which are SCSI targets on this VSAN. If true, then only SCSI read operations are permitted. So, this default zone becomes a read-only default zone on this VSAN. If false, then both SCSI read and write operations are permitted.

QoS

Specifies whether the QoS attribute for the default zone on this VSAN is enabled. If true, then QoS attribute for the default zone on this VSAN is enabled. If false, then the QoS attribute for the default zone on this VSAN is disabled.

QoS Priority

Specifies QoS priority value (Low, Medium, or High).

Broadcast

Specifies if broadcast zoning is enabled on this default zone on this VSAN. If true, then it is enabled. If false, then it is disabled.

Smart Zoning

Specifies if the smart zoning feature is enabled. on this VSAN. If the check box is unchecked, then it is disabled.

Zone Set Enhanced

Field

Description

Action

When set to basic(1), results in the zone server operating in the basic mode as defined by FC-GS4 standards. When set to enhanced(2), results in the zone server operating in the enhanced mode as defined by FC-GS4 standards.

Result

The outcome of setting the mode of operation of the local zone server on this VSAN.

Config DB Locked By

Specifies the owner for this session.

Config DB Discard Changes

Assists in committing or clearing the contents of the copy database on this session.

Config DB Result

Indicates the outcome of setting the corresponding instance of czseSessionCntl to commitChanges(1).

Enforce Full DB Merge

Controls the zone merge behavior. If this object is set to allow, then the merge takes place according to the merge rules. If set to restrict, then if the merging databases are not exactly identical, the Inter-Switch Link (ISL) between the devices is isolated.

Read From

Specifies whether the management station wishes to read from the effective database or from the copy database.

Smart Zoning

Field

Description

Switch

Specifies the type of which where smart zoning feature exists.

Status

Specifies if the smart zoning feature is enabled or disabled.

Command

Specifies the switch level command for smart zoning. If the command is disabled in one switch then smart zoning will be disabled in the whole fabric.

Last Command

Specified the previous command mode of the switch. Enabled or disabled.

Result

Specifies if the enable or disable action has been successful or unsuccessful.

Zone Set Read Only Violations

Field

Description

Violations

The number of data-protected Check Condition error responses sent by the local zone server.

Zone Set Statistics

Field

Description

Merge Req Tx

The number of merge request frames sent by this zone server to other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Merge Req Rx

The number of merge request frames received by this zone server from other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Merge Acc Tx

The number of merge accept frames sent by this zone server to other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Merge Acc Rx

The number of merge accept frames received by this zone server from other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Change Req Tx

The number of change requests sent by this zone server to other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Change Req Rx

The number of change requests received by this zone server from other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Change Acc Tx

The number of change responses sent by this zone server to other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

Change Acc Rx

The number of change responses received by this zone server from other zone servers in the fabric on this VSAN.

GS3 Rej Tx

The number of GS3 requests rejected by this zone server on this VSAN.

GS3 Req Rx

The number of GS3 requests received by this zone server on this VSAN.

Zone Set LUN Zoning Statistics

Field

Description

INQUIRY

The number of SCSI INQUIRY commands that have been received by the local zone server.

REPORT LUN

The number of SCSI Report LUNs commands that have been received by the local zone server. Typically the Report LUNs command is sent only for LUN 0.

SENSE

The number of SCSI SENSE commands that have been received by the local zone server.

Other Cmds

The number of SCSI Read, Write, Seek commands received by the local zone server.

BadInquiry Errors

The number of No LU error responses sent by the local zone server.

Illegal Errors

The number of Illegal Request Check Condition responses sent by the local zone server.

Zone Set Members

Field

Description

Zone

Default zone.

Type

FCID.

Device Type

Specifies if the end device type is host, storage, or both.

Switch Interface

Switch interface to which the zone member is connected to.

Name

Zone member name.

WWN

Zone member WWN.

FcId

Zone member FC ID.

Luns

Zone member LUN.

Status

Not in Fabric: If zone member is not in the fabric.

Not in VSAN: If zone member is not present in the VSAN.

n/a: Cannot determine status.

Empty: Member is present in fabric and correct VSAN and can communicate with other members of the zone.

Additional References

For additional information related to implementing VSANs, see the following section: